Last
week, nine Nigeria Ministers were fired, victims of the power struggle
within and around the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).Regrettably,
the Ministers were not relieved of their posts in order to strengthen
the cabinet. Were that the case, several more Ministers ought to have
been shown the door.
It was particularly shocking to see the
Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, humiliated. In an
article in March 2012, I urged him not to wait to be fired because his
government had lied about the transformation agenda that the Minister
told Nigerians in October 2011 to expect.
Mr. Usman had said that the agenda would address our country's notorious ethical vacuum.
"In
all societies, if you don't have control systems that catch and punish
those who steal funds, they will continue to steal," he told the press.
"These are part of the structural issues that would be addressed by the
Transformation Agenda…We have to emphasize the rule of law, judicial
system and the policing system. When you know that there is a 99
percent chance you would be caught when you steal and 100 percent chance
that you would go to jail, you won't steal."
But that was
untrue. The so-called transformation agenda completely evaded
hand-to-hand engagement with this critical subject. It emerged as a
superficial concept meant to deceive the gullible and the weak.
The
proof is that in the "transformation" era, and contrary to the
postulations of the former Minister, the rule of law is a laughable
concept. A casual glance around confirms that if you steal enough,
there is a 100 percent chance you will be awarded a National Honour, not
jail, as Dipreye Alamieyeseigha has proved. The transformation agenda
emerges as the original 419: it sounds good, but when you look at it, it
is not just full of holes, it is a hole.
That is why I hoped
that Usman, a proud and experienced product of the Ahmadu Bello
University and the London School of Economics and Political Science,
would recognize that he had betrayed his promised, and acknowledge it.
He
did not, and did not step aside. The charade has continued, with key
officials of the government mouthing platitudes and disinformation about
a baseless and fraudulent scheme. By remaining in the government,
Usman helped consolidate the conspiracy, even if he did not help
conceive of it. Last week, he paid the price for this double life, and I
hope he spends his time calculating official deception percentages.
This
is the central issue in Nigeria's public life: absence of character.
As I said of the federal cabinet at the time, "It must be a terrible
room to be in when everyone knows what the real problem is, and also
that nobody has the commitment to do anything about it. That room is
hell, not purgatory."
It is no surprise that the list of the
departing Ministers did not contain the name of Petroleum Minister
Diezani Allison-Maduekwe. It did not contain the name of the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke Bello.
Yet
when it comes to corruption, Allison-Madueke is probably the world's
most prominent cabinet Minister. Almost every month, a new burst of
ethical allegations envelopes her.
Now, an allegation is not the
same as an indictment, but it does not mean innocence either, a point
that a transparent government ought to be aware of. Despite that, not
once has the federal government investigated any of the allegations
against her, either to prove critics wrong or the Minister right. Not
once has the Minister herself tendered her resignation or demonstrated
any concern about her reputation. Her accusers can therefore not be
faulted, and the government comes across as nurturing extensive
corruption.
The same scenario applies to Mr. Bello, who has been
accused not only of corrupt enrichment but also of manipulating the
power of the Ministry of Justice in favour of injustice and impunity.
Again, neither the government nor Minister Bello seems to think that
there is a serious problem when the government's Number One lawyer is
being accused of unethical and criminal behavior.
It is hardly
surprising that these have become two of Nigeria's most powerful cabinet
figures. None has the character to resign. None is concerned to
defend the honour of the family whose name they bear.
Family:
Once upon yesterday, families proudly defended their reputation. You
did not do as you pleased outside the home because you had to protect
your family's name.
Not today. Parents do not seem to care when a
family member is emptying raw sewage into the living room. As long as
there is plenty of money, men do not prevail on their wives to respect
the name they received at marriage. Women do not care what ailment
their husbands bring home as long as it is wrapped in money.
This
is why most Nigerian Ministers would rather die than resign: we cannot
bear the thought of not continuing in power, even when we know we have
lost the ability to serve productively. We cannot stand not being in
power even when it is clear that what is going on is wholesale deception
of the people. Children do not question why their parents are being
called terrible names in the press.
Had the motive behind last
week's sacking of nine Ministers been the best interest of the Nigerian
people, Allison-Madueke and Bello would have led the list. But then, if
character and self-respect counted, both Ministers might have resigned
their appointments a long time ago and focused on defending their
reputation.
Let me end with one more name from the cabinet: Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister. When
I wrote elsewhere that she is the weakest link in the room, I was
attacked by superficial commentators, including an old friend of mine
who describes himself as a journalist by day but moonlights in one of
her offices by night.
My point is not complicated: the Double Duty
Minister is not the weakest link in the cabinet because of the
inadequacy of her preparation for the job. I labeled her the weakest
link because she arrived as the Minister best-suited to make a major
impact but chose to compromise with the ethical vacancy that keeps
Nigeria underperforming, underachieving and under-developing.
As a
result of this ethical emptiness, Oby Ezekwesili, who was
Okonjo-Iweala's former colleague in the Olusegun Obasanjo cabinet as
well as at the World Bank, has famously challenged the character of the
current administration, calling for a debate at one point.
Okonjo-Iweala's response: silence.
Similarly, on allegations of corruption against Allison-Madueke, Okonjo-Iweala's response: silence.
The
point is that it is disingenuous to preach economic theory and
'transformation' and pretend your government can succeed despite the
ethical vacuum of which it is a key part. More than anyone else,
Minister Okonjo-Iweala knows that "jobs and pro-jobs growth,"
transformation and Vision 2020 are meaningless clichés in the face of a
culture where the locusts tend the farm.
It is a character
question. The central Nigeria dilemma is that if you lack the character
to confront the most fundamental issues, it does not matter what you
are capable of, or who you think you are. People such as Usman and
Okonjo-Iweala must choose their destiny carefully, because sometimes,
retrenchment, like revolution, comes suddenly.
TheParadigm
A
New Jersey boy has died two days after he was pulled from the swimming
school of an independent secondary school in Connecticut. Suffield
Academy Headmaster Charlie Cahn said on Saturday that 14-year-old
Iheanyichukwu Anyanwu was from Irvingston, N.J. The ninth grader died
Friday at Baystate Medical Center in the western Massachusetts city of
Springfield.
